Hands-on with Facebook Home and the HTC First

We'll walk you through some of the new features in Facebook Home and HTC's new handset.

This morning, Facebook announced that it will be launching its new Facebook Home interface on April 12. The service will essentially hook into users' existing Android handsets, offering a fully immersive experience for those who primarily use Facebook for social networking and correspondence.

One of the major features of Home is Cover Feed, which replaces the lock screen and home screen on an Android handset with your Facebook news feed. "Chat heads" will appear on the Cover Screen indicating that you have a new message, either via SMS or Facebook. Notifications won't be aggressive—they'll appear with the chat head of your friend, and you can freely move their face around the screen or flick them away to deal with them later. Additionally, Facebook Home will serve as a launcher for any Android apps that you download from the Google Play store.

HTC also announced that it would be launching a handset that ships with Facebook Home already integrated into it. We got some hands on time with it, so here's a closer look at what's to come from the social networking giant and HTC's collaboration.

Chat heads appear in the Cover feed, which acts as the Lock Screen for Android when Facebook Home has been integrated.

Chat heads appear in the Cover feed, which acts as the Lock Screen for Android when Facebook Home has been integrated.

You tweak the settings in Facebook Home from a entirely seperate Settings application. Home can't be turned off as the default launcher from the Android Applications settings; instead you'll have to use the Home settings app.

The First features a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC, multimode LTE, and a 4.3-inch glass display. It will be available in four different colors and have a matte back.

The HTC First comes preinstalled with Facebook Home laid over Android 4.1.2.

The HTC First also features hardware controls for the home and back buttons.

A closer, albeit somewhat blurry, look at the hardware buttons.

Facebook Home notifications on the HTC First.

On other Android handsets, you can choose which app to set as the launcher. Galaxy SIII users, for instance, can choose whether or not they want to stick with Samsung's proprietary Touchwiz UI or switch to Facebook Home.

Facebook's App screen features stock Android stylings.

A Facebook employee shows how to swipe away notifications.

Notifications are well distinguished, letting you know precisely which app or service each notification has arrived from.

While I admit that I'm definitely not the target audience for this UI (I never use Facebook and to be honest can't stand it), it at least looks interesting. What worries me though is the fact that your friends personal pictures or your stream will appear on even your lock screen for your phone. So anyone that picks up your phone can look into your personal life.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but it's the first thing I thought of when I heard about the UI. LEt me know if I'm wrong here.

The only interesting thing that FaceBook could have announced today is a FaceBook Phone (the Fone?) that was extremely affordable (just powerful enough to run the FB experience) coupled with a flat-rate (say $10 per month) dataplan that ONLY connected to FaceBook. Lot's of people would happily wall themselves into FaceBook at that price.

While I admit that I'm definitely not the target audience for this UI (I never use Facebook and to be honest can't stand it), it at least looks interesting. What worries me though is the fact that your friends personal pictures or your stream will appear on even your lock screen for your phone. So anyone that picks up your phone can look into your personal life.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but it's the first thing I thought of when I heard about the UI. LEt me know if I'm wrong here.

if you're uploading photos to the internet, its not that personal. You don't want someone to see them, certainly don't upload it to facebook.

While I admit that I'm definitely not the target audience for this UI (I never use Facebook and to be honest can't stand it), it at least looks interesting. What worries me though is the fact that your friends personal pictures or your stream will appear on even your lock screen for your phone. So anyone that picks up your phone can look into your personal life.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but it's the first thing I thought of when I heard about the UI. LEt me know if I'm wrong here.

if you're uploading photos to the internet, its not that personal. You don't want someone to see them, certainly don't upload it to facebook.

I agree to an extent, but a big point of social networks like Facebook and Google+ is moderating who you share them with. That's why they give you privacy options to control who can see the items on your profile. Now consider how much time you physically spend around people who you wouldn't want to share your photos with on Facebook.

So if they're doing all this work to focus on Android, why is the Android app still garbage? No tablet layout, the performance is decent at best, it's not built to Holo standards, only gets updated once in a blue moon... I don't understand.

I'm a heavy user of Facebook (on an iPhone and a Mac), but I can't imagine wanting to use what this offers. I don't have a problem with it being offered for whoever wants it, but I can't imagine whose needs it really serves — other than Facebook's needs, of course. I can't imagine that there THAT many people who honestly want to arrange their portable digital life around Facebook. Facebook is one spoke of my digital life, certainly not the center of it.

I'm sure there will be a few people who want this, but I doubt it will have substantial sales.

While I admit that I'm definitely not the target audience for this UI (I never use Facebook and to be honest can't stand it), it at least looks interesting. What worries me though is the fact that your friends personal pictures or your stream will appear on even your lock screen for your phone. So anyone that picks up your phone can look into your personal life.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but it's the first thing I thought of when I heard about the UI. LEt me know if I'm wrong here.

Worse, you don't have any control over what your friends post in their FB accounts. What's going to protect you from your friends' inapprporiate photos suddenly bombing your lock screen at work?

In Verge's hands on video it seems like it's running vanilla android underneath. It has the stock Android keyboard, stock notification shade and the app icons look to be stock gapps and not the sense versions.

I don't understand why this can't just be a widget. Seems like massive overkill to create a launcher for this kind of functionality. Also does this mean there going to wrap up the current facebook app?

While I can't think of a worse thing to put on a phone (it seems equally as invasive as FB's privacy policy) , my Missus would be all over that had I not just acquired a Galaxy SIII for her. Facebook is 80%+ of her use.

While I can't think of a worse thing to put on a phone (it seems equally as invasive as FB's privacy policy) , my Missus would be all over that had I not just acquired a Galaxy SIII for her. Facebook is 80%+ of her use.

While I can't think of a worse thing to put on a phone (it seems equally as invasive as FB's privacy policy) , my Missus would be all over that had I not just acquired a Galaxy SIII for her. Facebook is 80%+ of her use.

Did you see that the Facebook Home software will be a free Google Play download for the Galaxy S3 starting April 12th? She can have the same UI on her phone, for free, and if she doesn't like it, she can just revert back to TouchWiz.

I'm a heavy user of Facebook (on an iPhone and a Mac), but I can't imagine wanting to use what this offers.

I'm not the target market either, but I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up selling well. Whatever its faults, I have to admit that the interface looks pretty slick and fresh compared to the typical Android home screen. That's going to make it attractive to the average cell phone buyer in a carrier store. It's like going into Best Buy and looking at the TVs – they're all maxed out on contrast and brightness, because that's what appeals to the average buyer.

The big question is how many OEMs will offer it as a default option. If it's just the HTC First, that's probably not enough penetration. But if Samsung and LG get in on it too, I could see it taking a respectable share of the Android market.

Home can't be turned off as the default launcher from the Android Applications settings; instead you'll have to use the Home settings app.

Wait -- what? Wouldn't that imply that Facebook Home has root (or some other extremely low level) access? Maybe someone more familiar with how permissions in Android works can fill me in.

I'd understand that if this is only true on the HTC First -- it's just an OEM issue. But it would bother me to install an app that couldn't be subsequently disabled or removed through the normal Android settings.

Home can't be turned off as the default launcher from the Android Applications settings; instead you'll have to use the Home settings app.

Wait -- what? Wouldn't that imply that Facebook Home has root (or some other extremely low level) access? Maybe someone more familiar with how permissions in Android works can fill me in.

I'd understand that if this is only true on the HTC First -- it's just an OEM issue. But it would bother me to install an app that couldn't be subsequently disabled or removed through the normal Android settings.

I think that comment was only for the HTC First. On some tech site (I forgot which), they showed how to download and activate Facebook Home on a supported Android phone, and it was exactly like activating any other launcher (like Nova).

So... the lockscreen app lets you read and post without unlocking???? What the hell kind of security is that? Gee, what could go wrong?

People are so freaked out about Google etc. "reading through their stuff", and they will just let anyone who manages a few seconds access to their phone dive right in to their most recent communications?

People are so freaked out about Google etc. "reading through their stuff", and they will just let anyone who manages a few seconds access to their phone dive right in to their most recent communications?

Um, pretty sure the people who are "so freaked out about Google etc. 'reading through their stuff'" are not the target market for this phone.

Florence Ion / Florence was a former Reviews Editor at Ars, with a focus on Android, gadgets, and essential gear. She received a degree in journalism from San Francisco State University and lives in the Bay Area.